For many years, the only manner in which personal skincare items in the spa market could be warmed or heated was by utilizing an external heat source. Typically, this source was a pot of boiling or hot water, an electric heating apparatus or other basic heating sources. In either case, while the warmth was certainly available for use, the risk of having that heating apparatus in the proximity of spa guests was significant. For instance, a spa guest could easily be scalded by hot water, and the danger of using electrical appliances in spa-type environments is widely known.
Another drawback to conventional methods of heating therapeutic substances for skincare treatments in spas is sanitation. For example, in many conventional therapeutic wax treatments, the wax is heated in a large vessel in which many different users dip their hands/feet in succession. Thus, after the first user undergoes the wax treatment, the wax in the vessel becomes contaminated by the dead skin cells, bacteria and dirt on the user's hand/foot. Each successive person to undergo the wax treatment further contaminates the common wax supply in the vessel. Thus, there is a need for individual disposable wax receptacles so that the wax is not contaminated by multiple users. Further, there is a need for an apparatus to safely heat such receptacles to a temperature above the melting point of the wax.